ZigBee is a standards-based wireless technology built around the IEEE 802.15.4 wireless protocol. ZigBee is generally designed to address the needs of low-cost, low-power wireless sensor and control networks. ZigBee's set of specifications enables creation of wireless personal area networks built from small, low-power electronic devices. Generally, ZigBee supports two ways for apparatus to join a network: (1) “Touch Link”, which is used as part of ZigBee Light Link (ZLL) and (2) a so-called “Classical Join,” where an apparatus having a default (i.e., an original) factory new state, tries to connect to a new network when the apparatus is powered.
Recent technologies utilize ZigBee and/or other protocols to set up a wireless personal lighting network and control various aspects of LED-based lighting. Such technologies bring vast possibilities to help users personalize lighting to suit their needs and/or lifestyles. Various lighting apparatus may be connected to the lighting networks such as LED-based bulbs, LED-based lighting fixtures, other light sources, switches for controlling one or more aspects of the lighting networks, presence sensors for controlling one or more aspects of the lighting networks, etc. When Classical Join is one of (or the sole) approach that has been selected to include new lighting apparatus in the lighting network, the lighting apparatus must be in the factory new state in order to join the network under such approach.
To allow lighting apparatus that are not in a factory new state to join a network under a Classical Join approach, it needs to be possible to reset those lighting apparatus to the factory new state. Some lighting apparatus may implement a “remote reset” feature to reset the device to the factory new state. For example, a specific code may be printed on a lighting apparatus and a user may enter the code via a tablet, smart phone, or other computing device. The computing device may then cause the code to be sent over the network (e.g., via a network bridge) to the lighting apparatus via a manufacturer specific ZigBee inter-PAN (personal area network) command, and the lighting apparatus may respond to the ZigBee inter-PAN command by resetting to the factory new state.
This and/or other techniques of resetting a device to the factory new state may suffer from one or more drawbacks. For example, where a network bridge is present in the lighting network, the bridge must be aware of the manufacturer specific inter-PAN command. Also, for example, a manufacturer specific inter-PAN command may be proprietary to the manufacturer and the manufacturer may not desire to disclose the inter-PAN command to third parties to enable its use in third party devices that are connectable to the lighting network.
Thus, there is a need in the art to provide alternative techniques for resetting of lighting apparatus to a factory new state.